Integrated networking equipment and diversity antenna in light bulb

ABSTRACT

A light bulb or other lamp device incorporating improved antenna configurations and integrated networking equipment is described herein. In one example, a LED light bulb is arranged to include a wireless transceiver and related wireless network processing circuitry, and is coupled to multiple antennas configured to receive and transmit signals using spatial diversity, beamforming, multiple-input and multiple-output (MIMO), or other multi-antenna techniques. The heat sink in the light bulb may be purposed to provide one or more of the multiple antennas, such as use of respective heat sink structures to serve as a diversity antenna. The wireless network processing circuitry may be used for control of the light bulb or for operability with wireless and non-wireless networks. For example, the network processing circuitry may operate as a wireless network access point, repeater, relay, bridge, or like function.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present application is a continuation of U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 14/727,345, filed Jun. 1, 2015, which application is herebyincorporated by reference in its entirety.

TECHNICAL FIELD

Embodiments pertain to wireless networking equipment and relatedcomponents used to conduct radio frequency (RF) communications. Someembodiments relate to networking equipment integrated into a light bulbform factor.

BACKGROUND

Some light bulbs include network communication components. For example,existing light emitting diode (LED) light bulbs include a wirelesstransceiver capable of receiving and transmitting communicationsemploying a wireless local area network protocol, such as a Wi-Fi (IEEE802.11 standard-compliant) protocol. The wireless network communicationsmay be used to control the light bulb, for example, by turning the lightelement in the light bulb on or off, dimming the light, or changing thecolor of the light. In existing light bulb designs, the wirelesstransceiver is coupled to a small antenna that is typically locatedwithin the light bulb housing.

Such light bulbs may encounter wireless communication issues, as thelight bulb configuration often limits the size and positioning of theantenna. For example, a light bulb may not be able to reliablycommunicate if the bulb is located a long distance from a wirelessaccess point, such as on a different floor than the wireless accesspoint. Also, the presence of multi-path fading, polarization effects,scatterers, attenuating media, and other signal degradation and noisemay further hinder communication performance. Light bulbs located withinfixtures may also experience reduced reception of communication signalsand the wireless network communication range for the bulb.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 illustrates a multipath wireless network communication scenariofor devices in a wireless network, according to a further describedexample.

FIG. 2A illustrates an example shape of a light bulb including multipleantennas and configured for wireless communications according to afurther described example.

FIG. 2B illustrates a cut-away view of an example shape of a light bulbincluding multiple antennas and configured for wireless communicationsaccording to a further described example.

FIG. 2C illustrates a perspective view of an example shape of a lightbulb including integrated network equipment and multiple antennas beingconfigured for wireless communications according to a further describedexample.

FIG. 3 illustrates another perspective view of an example shape of alight bulb including integrated network equipment and multiple antennasbeing configured for wireless communications according to a furtherdescribed example.

FIG. 4 illustrates example network communication paths forcommunications via a light bulb including integrated network equipmentaccording to a further described example.

FIG. 5 illustrates an example structural diagram for a light bulbincluding integrated network equipment and diversity antennas accordingto a further described example.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The following description and the drawings sufficiently illustratespecific embodiments to enable those skilled in the art to practicethem. Other embodiments may incorporate structural, logical, electrical,process, and other changes. Portions and features of some embodimentsmay be included in, or substituted for, those of other embodiments.Embodiments set forth in the claims encompass all available equivalentsof those claims.

The structures described herein enable the use of lamp devices (e.g.,light bulbs) and related light emitting devices for purposes of improvednetwork communications. The light device configurations described hereininclude an integration of wireless networking equipment into asolid-state light bulb form factor. The light device configurationsdescribed herein also include an integration of multiple antennas intothe solid-state light bulb form factor, useful for improvedcommunications with wireless networks.

In one example, an LED light bulb can include respective heat sinkportions, and such heat sink portions (e.g., respective heat sinks), maybe configured as an array of antenna elements. Such an array can beoperated in a manner to provide one or more of spatial diversity orpolarization diversity, to enhance communication reliability in thepresence of fading, scatterers, or attenuation. The Heat sinks in LEDlight bulbs may be arranged or shaped to provide thermal heatdissipation of the heat generated from LED elements within the bulb. Aheat sink used in a LED light bulb may be made from a metallic,heat-conducting material, such as an aluminum alloy. Appropriateheat-conducting materials in the heat sink can be specified, sized,shaped, and arranged to provide desired radiation characteristics forwireless communication.

The use of multiple antennas and multiple antenna communicationtechniques, such as spatial diversity, beamforming, and likesingle-input multiple-output (SIMO), multiple-input single-output(MISO), and multiple-input and multiple-output (MIMO) variants, may beused to improve communication capabilities from wireless networkingequipment housed in the light emitting device. For example, spatialdiversity antenna techniques utilize more than one antenna at a receiveror transmitter in order to improve link reliability.

The use of spatial diversity antenna techniques may be well-suited toaddress multi-path transmission issues occurring inside of homes andbuildings. In cases where wireless communications encounter multi-pathsignal degradation, RF signals bounce around obstacles in a room orstructure and cause multiple signals to arrive at the antenna atslightly different times. This may cause a phase shift that can cancelor reduce the strength of the main signal. The use of spatial diversitytechniques can result in a reduction to such distortion or attenuationof the signal. Similarly, a spatial diversity antenna configuration canalso provide polarization diversity, because such multiple pathpropagation may also shift a polarization state of propagatingelectromagnetic energy.

The placement of wireless network equipment at light fixture locations,which are often located at central, elevated (and less-obstructed)locations, may address multi-path issues that would otherwise occur inthe wireless network. Networking equipment integrated within lightdevices placed in lighting fixtures may assist network operations whenused in a role such as an access point, bridge, repeater, relay, or thelike. As also described below, the characteristics of solid-statelighting devices support the transmission of spatial diversity signalswith multiple antennas, such as by using heat sinks employed within LEDlight bulbs as spatial diversity antennas.

FIG. 1 illustrates an example multi-path wireless network communicationscenario 100, among devices in a wireless network. As illustrated, awireless access point 102 (e.g., a Wi-Fi router) broadcasts or receivesa variety of communication signals at different signal paths, 106A,106B, 106C, 106D, for the exchange of communications with communicationdevices 104A, 104B. These signal paths may span across the interior roombased on the location of the particular communication device and thewireless access point. The communication signals may reflect off avariety of structures, such as walls, ceilings, furniture, and the like.

As also shown in the communication scenario 100, each of the varioussignals 106A, 106B, 106C, 106D is reflected off the ceiling of the room.In particular, network equipment located at the ceiling or some highpoint of the room is likely to encounter less obstruction and multi-pathinterference. Ceiling mounted light bulbs 108A, 108B are positioned atan ideal location to have a good “view” of wireless devices in the roomand communicate with other wireless devices with less interference,because a ceiling position is likely to provide a line-of-sightpropagation to the communication devices 104A, 104B.

In a typical room or building, light bulbs having integrated networkingequipment may provide an easy-to-install mechanism to facilitate andimprove network communications within wireless networks. Light bulbs maybe suited for wireless networking operations such as a central wirelessaccess point, a repeater or relay for a wireless network (e.g., to serveas a wireless network extender), a bridge between different types ofwireless networks, a bridge between a wireless network and a wirednetwork (such as a power line or Ethernet network), and the like.

In the examples described herein, wireless networking componentsperforming RF receiver and transmitter operations may be embedded in thebulb, to operate as the central wireless access point or repeater forthe network. A LED light bulb provides a useful form factor that isreceptive to use with a wireless networking equipment, with availableinternal space and relatively low heat compared to other types of lightsources.

Multiple antennas may be integrated into a LED light bulb form factor inorder to improve reception and transmission of the wirelesscommunications. In one example, multiple heat sinks of an LED light bulbmay be structured or arranged to provide independently-addressableantenna elements. The respective heat sinks may be isolated from eachother to provide separate functioning antennas usable in a multi-antennaconfiguration, purposing all or a subset of the heat sinks as multipleantennas for use with the integrated networking equipment. Such antennasmay be used to form a spatial diversity antenna configuration fordiversity reception or transmit diversity (or both).

Antennas arranged in a configuration used for diversity receptionutilize two or more antennas, positioned at a fixed distance apart fromeach other, with such distance established at least in part usinginformation about a wavelength of the signal. For example, in areceiving scenario, respective antennas receive a slightly differentsignal strength, phase, or polarization. A receiver circuit can selectamong the respective antennas, selecting the antenna with the highestquality signal. In some configurations, the receiver circuit can combinesignals received from the respective antennas to provide a compositereceived signal having signal characteristics that are improved ascompared to a signal received from any one of the respective antennas,alone.

Likewise, antennas arranged in a configuration for transmit diversityutilize two or more antennas to transmit the same information frommultiple antennas, for receipt at another device utilizing diversityreception. The respective heat sinks that are purposed into the heatsinks as respective antennas, may be used for both diversity receptionand transmit diversity.

The shape and directionality of the heat sinks and the use of multipleantennas may also be used to assist with beamforming (directionaldiversity) of the RF signal. Further, the multiple antennas may be usedin connection with other variants of single-input multiple-output(SIMO), multiple-input single-output (MISO), or multiple-inputmultiple-output (MIMO) techniques, to improve reliability and throughputin data transmissions. “Spatial diversity” as used herein does notrestrict antenna operation to one-at-a-time or mutually-exclusiveoperation.

FIG. 2A illustrates an example shape of a light bulb including multipleantennas configured for wireless communications according to someexamples. FIG. 2A specifically illustrates a LED light bulb in a formfactor similar to a full-size incandescent light bulb. The light bulb200 includes a connection base 202 (e.g., a screw socket base forcoupling to a E26 or E27 standard or medium “Edison” screw lamp socketor other couplable receptacle and socket configuration), a base assembly204 including components for providing power from the connection base202 to circuitry and lighting elements (not shown), a set of heat sinks206A, 206B extending from the base assembly 204 to transfer anddissipate heat generated by the circuitry and lighting elements, and aglass or plastic bulb shell 208 to conceal and shelter components suchas the circuitry and lighting elements.

FIG. 2B illustrates a cut-away view of the light bulb 200 includingmultiple heat sinks purposed as multiple antennas for wirelesscommunications according to a further described example. The light bulb200, with its glass or plastic bulb shell omitted, shows three heatsinks 206A, 206B, and 206C. Each of the heat sinks 206A, 206B, 206Cextends from the base assembly 204 to the rounded end of the bulb(defined by the bulb shell 208, not shown). The depicted heat sinks206A, 206B include respective exterior sides 210A, 210B with grooves onthe exterior surface protruding from the bulb shell (e.g., the bulbshell 208, not depicted) that are designed to dissipate heat, andinterior sides such as an interior side 212 facing into the bulb shellfor the mounting of the heat-generating light elements.

A set of light emitting elements 216 are provided on a LED light strip214 that is in turn mounted to the surface of the interior side 212 ofthe heat sink 206C. The LED light strip 214 depicted in FIG. 2Billustrates three LED elements as an example, but the type, number, andshape of the LED light strip 214 and the LED elements will vary based onthe light output, size, and shape of the light bulb.

FIG. 2C illustrates a perspective view of an example shape of a lightbulb 200 including integrated network equipment and spatial diversityantennas configured for wireless communications according to a furtherdescribed example. In addition to the structures depicted in FIGS. 2Aand 2B, the light bulb 200 includes wireless communication circuitry218. The wireless communication circuitry 218 may include a wirelesstransceiver (mounted on an associated circuit board, for example)disposed in a portion of the base assembly 204 for inclusion within thelight bulb housing defined by the bulb shell (e.g., bulb shell 208, notdepicted). The wireless communication circuitry 218 is coupled to anantenna provided by one or more of the heat sinks. In one example, thewireless communication circuitry 218 is coupled to two separate,unconnected heat sinks of the light bulb 200 (e.g., heat sinks 206A,206C), for use of the two heat sinks respectively as spatial diversityantennas. In other examples, three, four, or more separate andunconnected heat sinks are used as antennas in connection with amultiple antenna communication technique.

Heat sinks are used to divert heat away from the LEDs and otherelectronic components of the light bulb. The heat sinks of the lightbulb 200 are made of a suitable material to both dissipate heatgenerated from the LED elements and circuitry in the light bulb, whilealso serving as a material for radiating or receiving radiated RF energyas an antenna. In further examples, only some of the heat sinks are usedas antennas. Further, the entire heat sink does not necessarily need tofunction as an antenna, but may be made with other heat-dissipating (andnot RF conductive) materials such as ceramic materials. A heat sink mayalso be partially coated with materials suitable to RF reception andtransmission. As another example, a portion of the heat sink can beconfigured (e.g., sized, shaped, and arranged) to radiate or receivedradiated energy efficiently, such as using one or more of a patchstructure, a monopole configuration, an inverted-F configuration, adipole configuration, or a slot configuration.

In further examples, the shape of the multiple heat sinks or the antennamay not directly correspond to the overall shape of the light bulb. Theparticular configuration of the heat sink arrangement and shape (andantenna materials in the heat sink) may be determined from a balance offactors including thermal management, light, and RF communicationcharacteristics (e.g., input impedance, radiation efficiency). Theparticular spacing and sizes of the heat sinks (and antenna materials inthe heat sinks) may be adapted based on the particular wavelength of thewireless network communications and the designated use of the wirelessnetwork equipment.

It will be understood that the heat sink, glass, or bulb configurationand arrangements depicted in FIGS. 2A, 2B, and 2C are provided asillustrative examples, and that the configurations and techniques foruse with lamp devices are not limited to the ornamental or functionallight bulb designs presented in FIGS. 2A, 2B, and 2C. Heat sinks inother light bulb configurations that do not converge or extend towardsthe tip of the bulb may be purposed as respective antennas in accordancewith the techniques described herein. Likewise, consistent with theillustrated examples provided herein, a lamp device including wirelessnetwork processing circuitry may be integrated with ornamental andfunctional bulb designs that differ from FIGS. 2A, 2B, and 2C. Thus,integrated wireless network functionality and components may beincorporated into a wide variety of lamp devices.

FIG. 3 illustrates a perspective view of an example shape of a lightbulb 300 including integrated network equipment and a diversity antennaaccording to a further described example. FIG. 3 is illustrated toinclude a base portion 304 having a multiple pin, bi-post socket base302 (e.g., a “G”-type, GU-10 standard base) for coupling with a bi-postlamp socket or like lamp receptacle. Similar to the configuration of thelight bulb 200 illustrated in FIGS. 2A-2C, the light bulb 300 in FIG. 3includes a plurality of heat sink portions. The shape of the light bulb300 is configured to include more than three heat sink portionsextending from the base portion 304, such as four or more heat separateheat sinks (with three heat sinks 306A, 306B, and 306C visible in theillustrated perspective). The light bulb 300 further includes a glass orplastic bulb shell 308, shaped for functional or aesthetic purposes, toenclose the light source and internal componentry. Integrated networkcircuitry may be provided within the interior chamber similar to theillustration of FIG. 2C, at a location to not generally interfere withthe distribution of the light.

The LED elements of the light bulb 300 may be located within theinterior chamber defined by the glass or plastic shell 308, and need notbe oriented directly on an interior portion of the respective heat sinksas depicted in FIGS. 2B and 2C. Depending on the form factor, LEDelements may be positioned throughout the bulb shape, and connected toany number of separate or common heat sinks. Therefore, while FIG. 3illustrates three visible heat sinks of a light bulb having four heatsinks, it will be understood that fewer or more heat sinks in differentconfigurations may be employed. Further, the heat sinks may only extendalong a portion of the outside bulb and are not required to convergetowards a single point of the light bulb (e.g., a “top” rounded portionof the bulb shell 208, 308 of the light bulbs 200, 300).

FIGS. 2 and 3 each illustrate varying configurations of astandard-shaped light bulb. Although these figures depict a light bulbresembling an “A19” form factor having a multi-directional internallight source, it will be understood that the configurations describedherein may be also applicable to other shapes and profiles of lightbulbs and luminaires. These include, but are not limited to, lampstructures including flood bulbs, spotlight bulbs, candelabra bulbs, andthe like.

FIG. 4 provides a general illustration 400 of example networkcommunication paths for wireless communications, in connection with alight bulb (e.g., the light bulb 200 illustrated in FIGS. 2A-2C)providing integrated network equipment according to a further describedexample. The integrated network equipment and circuitry (e.g.,transceiver, antennas, processing circuitry, and the like) included inthe light bulb 200 may be configured for operation with one or multipleof a wireless wide area network (WWAN) 112, a wireless local areanetwork (WLAN) 116, a power line network 126, and other types ofwireless and wired networks.

As a first example, involving use of a WWAN network 112, the light bulbmay receive wireless communications from a carrier--based network (e.g.,a Long Term Evolution (LTE)/Long Term Evolution-Advanced (LTE-A) cellnetwork) originating from WWAN network equipment 110 (e.g., an LTEevolved NodeB (eNodeB)). The light bulb 200 may use its networkprocessing circuitry to relay the wireless communications to a userequipment device 124 (e.g., a smartphone) via a locally established WWANconnection 122 using a WWAN protocol. The light bulb 200 may furtherrelay wireless communications provided from the user equipment device124 to the WWAN network equipment 110.

As a second example, involving use of a WLAN network 116, the light bulb200 may receive wireless communications from a short-range wirelessnetwork a Wi-Fi network) originating from a WLAN network equipment 114(e.g., a Wi-Fi access point/base station). The light bulb 200 may thenoperate as a repeater of wireless communications to a computing device120 via a locally established WLAN connection 118 using a WLAN protocol.The light bulb 200 may further relay wireless communications from thecomputing device 120 to other elements of the WLAN network 116.

As another example, involving use of a power line network 126, the lightbulb 200 may receive wireless communications from a wireless network(such as the WWAN network 112 or the WLAN network 116) and transmit thecommunications to a power line network 126 (or other non-wirelessnetwork) such as through power line network connection 128. In thisfashion, the communication circuitry in the light bulb 200 may operateas a bridge between a wireless network and components of a wirednetwork, such as a power line controller 130 which in turn controlsadditional lighting elements 132 in the power line network 126. In yetother examples, the light bulb 200 may operate as a bridge between twotypes of wireless networks (for example, exchanging communicationsbetween the WWAN network 112 and the WLAN network 116).

FIG. 5 illustrates a structural block diagram of an LED light bulbdevice 500, including integrated network equipment and a diversityantenna according to a further described example. As shown, the lightbulb device 500 includes (or may be coupled to) a power source 502,power circuitry 504, light control circuitry 506, one or more lightingelements (such as LED array 508), network equipment processing circuitry510, and an RF transceiver 512. The light bulb device includes or iscoupled to a diversity antenna 514.

The power source 502 operates to provide power to the power circuitry504 for power of the light-generating elements as well as the networkcommunication elements. Thus, the power circuitry provides power to thelight control circuitry 506, and the network equipment processingcircuitry 510. The light control circuitry 506 is used to control theLED array(s) 508 and the emission of light from the light bulb 500. Thelight control circuitry 506 may further operate to provide the suitableamount of light and control of the individual or groups of LED elementsin the bulb.

In some examples, the light control circuitry is operably coupled to thenetwork equipment processing circuitry 510 via one or more communicationpaths which enable the transmission of a light control command andassociated commands or messages. For example, a power toggle commandreceived via the network equipment processing circuitry 510 may be usedto trigger a light control command 516, which then instructs the lightcontrol circuitry 506 to toggle the power on/off to the light element(s)(such as the LED array 508). As another example, the light controlcommand 516 may be used to control the operation of particular LEDelements, such as different colored LED elements (e.g., a command tochange light color emitted by the bulb), or illumination intensity ofparticular LED elements (e.g., a command to dim the bulb).

The network equipment processing circuitry 510 is coupled to the RFtransceiver 512. The network equipment processing circuitry 510 canoperate to process incoming wireless networking messages at low andintermediate network layers, and generate outgoing messages fortransmission to the wireless network(s). The RF transceiver 512 mayinclude physical layer circuitry used to receive and transmit messagesvia the wireless network(s) and provide usable digital signal data tothe network equipment processing circuitry 510. The RE transceiver 512is coupled to a diversity antenna 514 which may be provided from aplurality (e.g., two or more) of heat sinks or other structureintegrated into the shape of the light bulb 500.

Additional circuitry may be included in the light bulb 500. For example,additional elements may be added to the network equipment processingcircuitry to facilitate operations via non-wireless networks (such as apower line transceiver)

The types of WWAN and WLAN wireless network described are not limited tothe use of the examples provided above. A WWAN may operate according toa network protocol operating according to a LTE, LTE-A, High SpeedPacket Access (HSPA), or other 3GPP standard network, an IEEE 802.16WiMAX standard, or other suitable wide area network protocols andstandard implementations. A WLAN may operate using a network protocolaccording to a standard from an IEEE 802.11 or 802.16 standards family,for example, a Wi-Fi network operating according to an 802.11a, 802.11b,802.11g, 802.11n, or 802.11ac network. Communications of wirelesspersonal area network (WPAN) implementations may be provided using aprotocol operating according to a Bluetooth standard promulgated fromthe Bluetooth Special Interest Group (the term “Bluetooth” as usedherein referring to a short-range digital communication protocolincluding a short-haul wireless protocol frequency-hoppingspread-spectrum (FHSS) communication technique operating in the 2.4 GHzspectrum). The light bulb device may also be used as part of adevice-to-device (D2D) or machine-to-machine (M2M) wireless network orvariants of a peer-to-peer or ad-hoc wireless network that involveconnections over a plurality of devices (e.g., connections involvingmultiple hops). Likewise, non-wireless networks useable in connectionwith the presently described light bulb devices are not limited to powerline networks. The light bulb device may interface with or serve as abridge for other type of wired connections (or networks involving bothpower line and non-power line mediums).

Uses of the antenna and specific antenna shapes may be determined inconnection with the particular frequency and communication techniquesemployed by the communication network protocol. Thus, a heat sink whichprovides functionality for part of a diversity antenna may be arrangedor shaped to support use of a particular frequency or communicationtechnique.

Associated communication techniques may be incorporated in components,modules, or circuitry in a light bulb and other light emitting devices,such as a wireless network adapter, a wireless transceiver control,circuitry for such systems and devices, and in hardware and softwareimplementations. Further, various methods or techniques, or certainaspects or portions of the functionality described herein, may take theform of program code (i.e., instructions) embodied in tangible media,such as flash memory or other machine-readable storage medium wherein,when the program code is loaded into and executed by a machine, such asa computer, the machine becomes an apparatus for practicing the varioustechniques. Appropriate circuitry to accomplish some of the operationsdescribed herein may be provided in connection with a computing devicemay include a microprocessor, a processor, a storage medium readable bythe processor (including volatile and non-volatile memory and/or storageelements), at least one input device, and at least one output device.

The light bulb device may operate as a standalone device or may beconnected (e.g., networked) to other devices. In a networked deployment,the device may operate in the capacity of either a server or a clientmachine in server-client network environments, or it may act as a peermachine in peer-to-peer (or distributed) network environments. The lightbulb device may provide characteristics of a computing device, such as aweb appliance, a network router, switch or bridge, or similar devicecapable of executing instructions (sequential or otherwise) that specifyactions to be taken by that machine. Further, while only a single deviceis illustrated in numerous of the examples provided herein, the term“device” shall also be taken to include a machine or collection ofmachines that individually or jointly execute a set (or multiple sets)of instructions to perform any one or more of the methodologiesdiscussed herein.

Instructions for operations of the light bulb device may be provided inconnection with a machine-readable medium. While the machine-readablemedium may be a single medium, the term “machine-readable medium” mayinclude a single medium or multiple media that store the one or moreinstructions. The term “machine-readable medium” shall also be taken toinclude any tangible medium that is capable of storing, encoding, orcarrying instructions for execution by the machine and that cause themachine to perform any one or more of the methodologies of the presentdisclosure or that is capable of storing, encoding or carrying datastructures utilized by or associated with such instructions. The term“machine-readable medium” shall accordingly be taken to include, but notbe limited to, solid-state memories, and magnetic media. Specificexamples of machine-readable media include non-volatile memory,including, by way of example, semiconductor memory devices (e.g.,Electrically Programmable Read-Only Memory (EPROM), ElectricallyErasable Programmable Read-Only Memory (EEPROM)) and flash memorydevices.

Further processing instructions for the light bulb device may further betransmitted or received over a communications network (e.g., the WWAN,WLAN, WPAN) using a transmission medium via the network interface. Theterm “transmission medium” shall be taken to include any intangiblemedium that is capable of storing, encoding, or carrying instructionsfor execution by the device, and includes digital or analogcommunications signals or other intangible medium to facilitatecommunication of the device.

Other applicable network configurations may be included within the scopeof the presently described communication networks. Although exampleswere provided with reference to a WWAN and WLAN, it will be understoodthat communications may also be facilitated using any number of PANs,LANs, and WANs, using other combinations of wired or wirelesstransmission mediums.

It should be understood that the functional units or capabilitiesdescribed in this specification may have been referred to or labeled aselements, components, or modules, in order to more particularlyemphasize their implementation independence. For example, a component ormodule may be implemented as a hardware circuit comprising customvery-large-scale integration (VLSI) circuits or gate arrays,off-the-shelf semiconductors such as logic chips, transistors, or otherdiscrete components. A component or module may also be implemented inprogrammable hardware devices such as field programmable gate arrays,programmable array logic, programmable logic devices, or the like.Components or modules may also be implemented in software for executionby various types of processors. An identified component or module ofexecutable code may, for instance, comprise one or more physical orlogical blocks of computer instructions, which may, for instance, beorganized as an object, procedure, or function. Nevertheless, theexecutables of an identified component or module need not be physicallylocated together, but may comprise disparate instructions stored indifferent locations which, when joined logically together, comprise thecomponent or module and achieve the stated purpose for the component ormodule.

Indeed, a component or module of executable code may be a singleinstruction, or many instructions, and may even be distributed overseveral different code segments, among different programs, and acrossseveral memory devices. Similarly, operational data may be identifiedand illustrated herein within components or modules, and may be embodiedin any suitable form and organized within any suitable type of datastructure. The operational data may be collected as a single data set,or may be distributed over different locations including over differentstorage devices, and may exist, at least partially, merely as electronicsignals on a system or network. The components or modules may be passiveor active, including agents operable to perform desired functions.

Additional examples of the presently described method, system, anddevice embodiments include the following, non-limiting configurations.Each of the following non-limiting examples may stand on its own, or maybe combined in any permutation or combination with any one or more ofthe other examples provided herein. The following claims are herebyincorporated into the detailed description, with each claim standing onits own as a separate example or embodiment.

What is claimed is:
 1. A lamp device, comprising: a base, the baseincluding a connector to connect with a power source; a bulb structure,the bulb structure extended from the base; first and second solid-statelighting elements electrically connected to the connector of the base toreceive electrical power from the power source; a radio frequency (RF)transceiver coupled to the first solid-state lighting element and secondsolid-state lighting element, a first antenna coupled to the RFtransceiver, and a second antenna coupled to the RF transceiver andisolated from the first antenna to function independently in amulti-antenna configuration; and wherein the RF transceiver is arrangedto use the first antenna and the second antenna in the multi-antennaconfiguration to provide transmission and reception of respective RFsignals.
 2. The lamp device of claim 1, wherein the solid-state lightingelement includes one or more light emitting diodes.
 3. The lamp deviceof claim 1, wherein the bulb structure has an A form factor.
 4. The lampdevice of claim 1, wherein the first antenna is a first heat sink thatincludes RF conductive material to emit and receive RF energy from therespective RF signals, and the second antenna is a second heat sink thatincludes RF conductive material to emit and receive RF energy from therespective RF signals.
 5. The lamp device of claim 1, further comprisingnetwork equipment processing circuitry, wherein the RF transceiver iselectrically connected to the network equipment processing circuitry,and wherein the network equipment processing circuitry and the RFtransceiver is arranged on a circuit board.
 6. The lamp device of claim5, wherein the network equipment processing circuitry is configured forproviding wireless communications of a wireless local area networkaccording to a standard from an IEEE 802.11 standards family.
 7. Thelamp device of claim 1, wherein the lamp device is a luminaire.
 8. Alight emitting diode (LED) device, comprising: a base assemblyconfigured for connection with an electrical source; a first LED arrayelectrically connected to the base assembly via light control circuitry;a second LED array electrically connected to the base via the lightcontrol circuitry and isolated from the first LED array; a first antennacoupled to network equipment processing circuitry that is electricallyconnected to the light control circuitry to operate the first LED array;a second antenna coupled to the network equipment processing circuitryto operate the second LED array; and a radio frequency (RF) transceiverelectrically connected to the first antenna and second antenna fortransmission and receiving of RF energy.
 9. The LED device of claim 8,wherein the base assembly is an Edison screw socket base or a multiplepin socket base, the base assembly being configured for attachment to alight receptacle.
 10. The LED device of claim 8, wherein the LED lightdevice is a luminaire.
 11. The LED device of claim 8, wherein the lightcontrol circuitry is controllable based on a light control commandprovided from the network equipment processing circuitry, wherein thelight control command is configured to control light output from thefirst LED array or second LED array, including one or more of: lightintensity, light color, light on/off, wherein the light control commandis determined from a signal received by the RE transceiver.
 12. The LEDdevice of claim 8, wherein the first antenna and second antenna arespatial diversity antennas.
 13. The LED device of claim 8, wherein thefirst antenna is a first heat sink that includes RF conductive materialto emit and receive RF energy, and the second antenna is a second heatsink that includes RF conductive material to emit and receive RF energy.14. A solid-state light device, comprising: solid-state lightingelements coupled to a bulb structure; an array of antennas provided byportions of the solid-state light bulb structure that are coupled to thesolid-state lighting elements, wherein antennas in the array of antennasare isolated from each other and function independently in amulti-antenna configuration, and wherein each antenna in the array ofantennas is integrated into the bulb structure; a radio frequency (RF)transceiver including physical layer circuitry arranged to performcommunications with a wireless network using the array of antennas inthe multi-antenna configuration; and wireless network processingcircuitry configured to communicate with a plurality of devices byreception and emission of the communications via multiple antennas ofthe array of antennas.
 15. The solid-state light device of claim 14,wherein the solid-state lighting elements include a plurality of lightemitting diode (LED) elements arranged to disperse light from the bulbstructure.
 16. The solid-state light device of claim 14, wherein atleast one antenna of the arrays of antenna is a heat sink provided froma metallic alloy capable of emitting and receiving RE energy inconnection with the RE transceiver.
 17. The solid-state light device ofclaim 14, the wireless network processing circuitry further arranged toprocess wireless network transmissions received from the array ofantennas.
 18. The solid-state light device of claim 17, the wirelessnetwork processing circuitry further arranged to generate wirelessnetwork transmissions for transmission with beamforming using the arrayof antennas.
 19. The solid-state light device of claim 14, the wirelessnetwork processing circuitry further arranged to perform operations tobridge communications between a wireless wide area network (WWAN) and awireless local area network (WLAN).
 20. The solid-state light device ofclaim 14, the wireless network processing circuitry arranged to performoperations to bridge communications between a wireless network and apower line network.
 21. The solid-state light device of claim 14,wherein the bulb structure has one of an A form factor or GU formfactor.
 22. The solid-state light device of claim 14, wherein thesolid-state light device is a luminaire.